Soldier Blog Tour

Hey guys!

Welcome to the last stop and I might add the best stop of the Soldier blog tour ;)

Not only do I have a pretty gushy review about all the reasons Soldier is the best book of the series and why you guys NEED to read it, but I also have an interview with the wonderful Julie Kagawa!! I don't quite believe it myself, Julie has been a favourite author of mine since forever so this is a pretty big deal for me, my inner fangirl has been banshee screaming and it's all thanks to the incredible Lorraine, thank you thank you thank you <3.

A fighter dedicated to saving humankind from dragons in strictest secrecy.

That was what Garret Xavier Sebastian thought he was part of as a soldier of the Order of St. George. What he learned from a fiery dragon hatchling twisted all he believed in and set him on a collision course with certain death-but not without a chance to put things right.

Betrayed and on the run again, Ember and rogue dragon Riley discover an unthinkable truth about Talon and St. George. They'll need Garret's skills and insider knowledge of the Order to negotiate an impossible deal-and if they fail, there will be no way to stop all-out war.

Q&A with Julie Kagawa!

1.What inspired you to write a
book about fierce dragons and how did you come up with such great characters?

I've
always loved dragons.Back when I was in high school, I wrote a
story about a dragonslayer who meets and falls in love with a dragon.Those two characters were Ember and
Garret. The setting has changed, and the
plot is different, but Ember and Garret have remained almost exactly the same since
that very first book, and I'm thrilled that I finally get to tell their story.

2.Are there any books/movies that
you drew inspiration from when writing this series?

When
I was younger, I devoured fantasy novels, especially if they featured a dragon
in the story. Anne McCafffrey's Dragonriders of Pern was a huge inspiration,
as was The Hobbit (I've always loved
Smaug), and The Neverending Story. My favorite movie dragons are Toothless,
Draco from Dragonheart, Haku from Spirited Away, the dragons in Reign of Fire, and of course, Smaug.

3.How did you come up with the
roles of being a Viper, Chameleon, Basilisk, etc?

It
seemed that an organization of dragons would have specific roles that
capitalized on what the organization needed.Chameleons to handle business and politics, Basilisks to steal
information and blackmail, and Vipers to take out Talon's enemies.

4.What’s the best thing about
writing from Ember, Riley and Garret’s perspectives?

With
multiple POVs, you can really get into each character's head and know what
they're thinking.Ember, Riley and
Garret each have different viewpoints on Talon, St. George, and the war, and
each brings a unique perspective to the story of Talon.

5.The Talon Saga has such
detailed action scenes, especially when it comes to Garret and St. George, how
did you become so knowledgeable on military procedures and weaponry? Secret
ninja perhaps?

Thank
my husband for that. He has a military background, so I always go to him when I
have questions about tactics and weaponry.

6.What scene in the Talon Saga so
far was your favourite to write?

My
favourite scene to write was one in the first book, when Garret and Ember are
facing off on the cliff after discovering what the other really is.It's a tense scene because both have come to
realize they have feelings for the other, but that person is their greatest
enemy, and now they're expected to fight and kill them.How that scene ends, and Garret's realization
immediately afterwards, is probably my favourite scene of the series.

7.Did you know from the very
beginning that Talon was going to be a 5 book series?

Yes.I felt that, with this story anyway, it
needed to be longer than my standard trilogy.Lots of things still have to happen before the final battle.

8.Here’s a scary thought, do you
know how this epic series will end? *prepares
for heartbreak*

I do.I have the last, epic battle planned out in
my head, and it will involve lots of dragons and soldiers and fire and death, and a bit of heartbreak.

9.What is your next project? And
can you tell us anything about it?

Sadly,
I cannot.Mostly because I'm not sure
what it will be.I don't officially have
anything planned after the Talon series, though I do have several ideas.We'll just have to see what comes next.

10.Lastly, because I cannot question my favourite author and not mention
The Iron Fey series; If Meghan, Ash
and Puck were to find themselves working for Talon what type of dragon would
they be?

Lol,
that's a good question. I think Meghan
would be a Chameleon, since she's good at politicking and would rather talk her
way out of trouble. Ash would be a
Gila; they're the bodyguards and protectors of Talon. And Puck, because he's a trickster and can
think on his feet, and wouldn't mind blowing up the odd building or two, would
be a Basilisk.

Review

I have loved this series since the
beginning but I just knew Soldier was going to be a little different from Talon
and Rogue. It’s that feeling you get when everything is going well but you’re
waiting for the other shoe to drop, for disaster to strike…. Except in this
case you’re waiting for Julie Kagawa to crush your soul.

Similar to the
Iron Fey series Kagawa makes you fall in love with her wonderful characters,
even the bad guys have their shining moments, it’s hard to have strong negative feelings towards
anyone – well except Scary Talon Lady, the
name is reason enough. Anyway, so while you’re immersed in this new world
and loving the direction each book is taking, suddenly out of nowhere Kagawa drops an A-bomb, a bomb so
big and catastrophic that you find yourself thinking that you simply didn’t read that last sentence right,
you’re eyes are deceiving you, perhaps it was a trick of the light?, all the while listening to your heart being
crushed; this ladies and gentlemen is Solider. If tears do in fact feed
Kagawa’s muse then I’d say that everyone better prepare for Talon #4 because
it’s going to be one hell of a ride.

Solider picks up straight after Rogue,
Ember and Riley are on the run from Talon and St. George and while attempting
to save their scales they must also keep numerous underground dragons safe.
During the ending of Rogue we saw my poor sweet snowflake Garrett leaving the
nest and taking matters into his own hands. There’s not much I can say about
Solider without giving away spoilers but I will say that you do get some
much-needed answers to those questions that have been popping up since book
one.

What
about answers to the romance? Hmm, again I’ll be honest, to me it remains a
question mark. There was a moment in the book where a choice is made but the
following events left a lot of room for potential change. I found myself
looking way too much into certain
scenes, the mere mention of certain colours had me convinced they were
referring to characters and ships. Gray = OH MY GOD IT’S GARRETT, his metallic greys so
dreamy, Ember belongs with him. Blue/Purple = AHHH IT’S RILEY, together at
last, two dragons mating, it all makes sense. As you can see, I tended to jump
the gun… and on numerous occasions.

Fan of the series will no doubt enjoy this
heart-stopping sequel, there’s action, adventure, romance and more
fire-breathing dragons!!! What more
could you want? Kagawa has surpassed herself with this incredible instalment,
her writing continues to have the same captivating affect and with each book my love for her incredible fantasy worlds continues to grow.

About the Author

Julie Kagawa was born in Sacramento, California. But nothing exciting really happened to her there. So, at the age of nine she and her family moved to Hawaii, which she soon discovered was inhabited by large carnivorous insects and frequent hurricanes. She is the New York Times bestselling author of The Iron Fey series, the Talon series and the Immortal Rules trilogy.

So that's all folks, I'm incredibly honoured to have been apart of the Soldier tour, in case any of you missed any stops on the tour check out the tour banner below!

Massive thanks to Julie for answering my questions.

Gigantic hugs for Lorraine for allowing me to take part.

Oodles of love to my soul-sister Erika for helping me come up with questions. Well actual questions and not fangirl rants i.e DON'T KILL GARRET, I BEG YOU! You & your friendship means the world to me, so all the chocolate and dreamy book boyfriends for you <3

3 comments:

This is so cool you were able to interview Julie Kagawa!! Haha Toothless is one of my favorite dragons too :) I'm really glad to hear you liked Soldier, Cody! After I read Talon and Rogue, I was feeling mostly meh so maybe this book will pick up the slack for me!

AHHHHHH THIS INTERVIEW IS EVERYTHING <33 Such great questions! Especially the question about Meghan, Ash, and Puck being dragons part of Talon, was pure brilliant!I still can't believe you were fortunate enough to score an interview! You have no idea how happy I am for you! Next thing you know, you'll have an interview with JK Rowling or someone equally as famous (if that happens, TELL ME)I'm trying really really REALLY hard not to read your review until I read Soldier, and will come back to it when I finish. No doubt you will be the first to hear about it, because after everything you've told me, the feels are going to be BRUTAL. Which of course will make it such a great book :DHaha I absolutely love your Musha gifs, they're completely appropriate ;) Maybe I should take a page from your review and write my Soldier review completely with Mushu gifs, ha!Awww, thank you so much for your kind words, Cody! Believe me, you're the one who takes the prize for being absolutely amazing! You deserve twice the amount of chocolate I have <3

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About Me

Hiya, I'm Cody!
I'm a YA book blogger. I'm always reading and talking about everything bookish. I'm a major animal lover and always spend time with my dogs and probably spend too much of time fangirling over book boyfriends.
I'm easy to talk to so be sure to leave me a comment, thanks for stopping by!